The use of dental floss and other interdental cleaners are an important part of dental hygiene, and are used to remove plaque and other particulate from between the teeth and under the gum line, e.g., areas in the mouth where a toothbrush cannot reach. Frequently, these are the initiation sites of tooth decay, especially if not cleaned regularly. However, even with routine maintenance, caries and gingivitis still develop in these areas. Thus, there is a continuing need to develop more effective dental flosses.
Dental flosses are generally linear strips of a material having a fixed diameter and fixed dimensions. However, teeth are not all equally spaced apart. Thus, use of a dental floss that has a diameter less than the distance between the teeth results in inefficient or ineffective cleaning between the teeth. In addition, a space usually resides between the gum and two adjacent teeth that is usually larger than the diameter of dental floss, and efficient cleaning of such area is difficult. Dental floss users occasionally use dental floss to massage the gums, but dental flosses generally are hard when pulled taut, resulting in potential damage to the gum.
Solutions to overcome such problems include manufacturing dental flosses having a wider diameter. This may pose problems insofar as it may be difficult to pass larger diameter flosses, or even normal diameter flosses, between the teeth without a substantial increase of force. The force exerted to pass the floss between the teeth is immediately released once the floss passes between the teeth, usually resulting in a painful collision with the gums, and resulting in possible lacerations and bleeding. Also this “extra” force exerted to pass the floss between the teeth can cause the floss to shred and fray. Thus, small children may even be discouraged from flossing due to possible self-inflicted injuries.
Gelatinous elastomeric articles are known in the art, and often are used as handles for umbrellas, brushes, or for toys, dental floss, hand exercising grips, cushions, and the like. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,334,646, and 5,508,334, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, discloses a gelatinous composition comprised of an intimate blend admixture of poly(styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene) triblock copolymer with a high level of a plasticizing oil. These gelatinous polymers usually are too jelly-like and lack sufficient rigidity to be used in dental floss applications, because, inter alia, they tend to break too easily upon elongation (i.e., the tensile strength at break is too high, and the elongation at break is too low for practical use). U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,572, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses oriented gels useful in a variety of applications such as low frequency vibration applications, damping of mechanical structures, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,243, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a dental floss comprised of a fiber core, surrounded by an elastomeric outer layer. The outer layer provides a softer coating on a thicker floss used as a brush portion of a floss, but the floss itself is not stretchable due to the inner fiber core. A similar floss is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,797, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,609, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety discloses particulate modified elastomeric flosses in which particulate modification agents are either adsorbed to the surface of the floss or embedded in the surface of the floss.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,256, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a dental floss having microcapsules associated with a portion of the floss that will burst and release a color to indicate use of the floss. U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,678, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a “gel” dental floss that comprises a core material and a gel material in which the core material provides for sufficient tensile strength and the gel component provides for softness of the floss. U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,555, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a dental floss in the form of a strand or tape made from gels having improved high tear strength and improved high tensile strength.
Despite the foregoing developments, there remains a need to develop dental floss compositions that solve such problems.